Fender has announced the arrival of the Tom DeLonge signature Starcaster, coming – as predicted by fans – right on cue after the Blink-182 guitarist dropped an Instagram teaser post last week.
As GW speculated at the time, the single pickup semi-hollow electric guitar is indeed Indonesian-made, and features a single Seymour Duncan SH-5 humbucker, a single volume control, over-sized ’70s-style Fender headstock and black hardware.
Fender has also confirmed the inclusion of DeLonge’s favored treble bleed circuit, which is incorporated to the master volume control and, as the firm describes, “preserves the guitar's natural high-end, ensuring sparkly cleans and chime-y edge-of-breakup tones” as the volume is rolled off.
The neck has a modern C profile, then there’s a 12” radius rosewood fingerboard (with dot inlays), Fender locking tuners and an adjustable bridge with a stop tailpiece. DeLonge has chosen to keep his name off the headstock, but there is a small graphic on the rear and his name is on the neck plate.
Finish options include Surf Green, Shell Pink, Shoreline Gold and Olympic White – all of which are satin.
The Blink man’s original signature Stratocaster was released in 2002 and built a cult following for its utilitarian, single-pickup take on Fender’s iconic electric. A later move to Gibson saw DeLonge offer a similarly stripped-down reimagining of the ES-333 outline.
His third signature design brings in elements of both of its predecessors – the Strat’s stripped-back electronics, and the Gibson’s semi-hollow body and classic humbucker.
“I love this guitar, I really do. It’s the coolest guitar ever made,” enthuses DeLonge. “Firstly, it is called a Starcaster. That’s the most important thing. It goes to space and expands your mind.
“This guitar shows my evolution as a player but also has the hallmarks of where I came from and what I'm about.”
The model also represents the latest step in Fender – and the wider industry’s – shift towards premium offshore builds. At $1,199, the price would once have been unthinkable for an Indonesian build, but this is a high-spec model and Fender has seen fit to place its own logo on it, despite its origins from a facility more commonly associated with Squier builds.
Jimmy Eat World guitarist Jim Adkins’ signature Fender Telecaster Thinline was relaunched as an Indonesian production, with a price point of $1,099 last year, and there have been other limited edition Fenders from the facility, so the precedent is there.
However, if previous DeLonge signatures are anything to go by, the Starcaster will comfortably outsell those.
It’s also notable that the price point places it in direct competition with that other big semi-hollow signature model of recent months, Epiphone’s Chinese-made Dave Grohl signature DG-335 ($1,299) .
“At its simplest level… people have just, over time, improved,” Fender’s EVP of Product, Justin Norvell explained when Guitar World asked about the continued shift to ‘premium offshore’ models earlier this year.
“[There’s been] continuous improvement of the process of the craftsmanship, using similar machinery. Good wood and a CNC machine – and the right finishing and setup – has democratized some of that.”
For more information on the Tom DeLonge signature Starcaster, head to Fender.
